SOUTH POINT — The newly founded Lawrence County Health and Wellness Initiative will hold its second meeting on Thursday at South Point High School.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the multi-purpose room; interested individuals are invited to attend.

The initiative officially launched last month when more than a dozen stakeholders attended the first Lawrence County Health and Wellness Initiative Summit, which was led by Ohio University Southern Professor David Lucas.

Initiative members hope to raise Lawrence County from its last place ranking among Ohio’s 88 counties for health outcomes and health factors. Its first goal is to move up three ranking positions within the first three years.

The rankings, compiled by the Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health or MATCH project — a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute — were released in March. Lawrence County was ranked 88th, or dead last, among Ohio counties in health outcomes. They are based on morality and morbidity measures. Lawrence County had the highest rates of morbidity in the state but ranked 82nd in mortality rates.

Other ratings included 86th for health behaviors, 67th for the availability of clinical care, 66th for social and economic factors and 49th for the physical environment as compared to other counties in the state.

Some of the most troubling data pointed to the county’s high premature death rate and the prevalence of diabetes, smoking, and obesity. According to the report, 30 percent of Lawrence County adults smoke compared to 23 percent of adults statewide and 15 percent nationwide.

Obesity rates in Lawrence County were also much higher than the national rate, with 35 percent of the population reported in the county as compared to 25 percent nationally.

The report also pointed out that Lawrence Countians have less access to primary care and mental health professionals, as compared to their counterparts across the state and nation. According to the report, there is just one primary care physician in Lawrence County for every 1,791 patients. The national rate is 631 to 1 while Ohio’s rate is 859 to 1. When it comes to access for mental health, there is one provider for every 20,897 Lawrence Countians, where as the statewide rate is 2,501 per patient.

Lucas said last month, he believes the initiative can help change many of these statistics.

“There is no reason for us to have a higher morality rate than everyone else around us. I don’t understand what is going on. So I decided to do something,” Lucas said. “I firmly believe, I am convicted, that this is a matter of life and death. There is too much bad happening in too good a place. This is a great place to live, work and play. There is too much good for us to be listed last.”

Although the initiative is still in the beginning stages of organizing, Lucas said the group has “tremendous energy and motivation” already.

Already, it has formed “action circles” consisting of individuals, from a variety of backgrounds, that will meet monthly to focus on a specific issue including health behaviors, health education, access and quality health care, physical environment, and social factors. Each group is working to identify specific obstacles or issues and create plans to address them.

The initiative has also already garnered the support of a range of organizations and groups in Lawrence County including its leadership, which voted in November to give the fledgling organization $1,500 in seed money.

Among the initiatives biggest supporters is commission president Les Boggs. Boggs said he was “hurt” by the health rankings when he first learned about them, and felt tremendous “empathy for those that I know could be in a better condition but don’t know how. Or don’t have the access or education to improve their own health.”

“We all have a responsibility in this effort, and the responsibility is to step up and do what we can.”

For more information about the initiative visit sites.google.com/site/lawcohealthandwellness/.